Our beloved @Mark Lawrence, my darling friend 🤗 Today, you have completed another trip around the fire ball that gives life to all! 👏🏻 I am so grateful that you are on this Earth! Your kind heart and kindness never goes unnoticed and your poetry is the highlight of any day! I invite you to celebrate yourself today with joy, amazing food and laughter! I am there with you in spirit and hopefully one day we will meet in the flesh too! Happy birthday, my dear brother 🫶🏻💜🤗🎂

Hi everyone 👋 I’ve been lucky to have met both Mingyur Rinpochet and Jet Li on a few occasions when I lived in China, both of which have been great influencers in my life. 🙏🏻 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Exaytyuw9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Hi everyone 👋 After two weeks, I’m still not well, I am progressing but I still feel very weak and still have no voice. So, I would be so grateful I you could help me out with some posts over the weekend ? Thank you With Love ❤️ Always Mark Breakfast

You're talking with someone you love. Everything feels open, easy. And then something shifts. Their jaw tightens. Their eyes go somewhere else. Or maybe they say a word that lands wrong. And suddenly, you feel it. A little clench. A pull. Like something inside you just got hooked. The Tibetans have a word for this. They call it shenpa. It means getting stuck. That sticky feeling where you can't let go, even though a part of you knows you should. Maybe it's a criticism. Maybe it's a memory. Maybe it's just someone sitting down next to you at dinner and something about their energy makes you want to close up. I've felt this a thousand times. And for most of my life, I didn't know what to do with it except react. Say something sharp. Shut down. Eat something. Scroll on my phone, anything to make that uncomfortable feeling go away. But here's what I've learned, slowly, over many years of sitting still and messing up and trying again. That tightening isn't the enemy. It's just a signal. A little bell ringing inside you, saying, something here matters to me. The trick isn't to fight it or fix it. The trick is to notice it. That's all..just notice. Ah. There it is. That familiar clench. And then... breathe. Just one breath. Don't scratch the itch. Don't say the thing you'll regret. Don't run away. Just sit with that tiny bit of unease for a moment. That's the whole practice. Not becoming perfect. Not never getting hooked again. Just catching it a little earlier each time. And being kind to yourself when you don't. Because you will get hooked. We all do. I still do. The difference now is that I don't hate myself for it. I just say, "Oh, there's that feeling again." And then I come back to my breath. To this moment. To the person in front of me. That's what I wish for you, sweet friend. Not a life without hooks. But a little more space around them. A little more softness. A little more willingness to just stay present with what's actually here. You don't need to be enlightened. You just need to be kind to yourself when you tighten up. And then let go. And then tighten again. And let go again.

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried loudly for hours, while the farmer tried to find something to do to get him out. Finally, the farmer decided that the donkey was old and the well was already dry and needed to be covered anyway; that it really wasn't worth pulling the donkey out of the well.. He invited all his neighbors to come help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to throw dirt into the well. The donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly loud. Then, to everyone's surprise, he quieted down after a few shovelfuls of dirt. The farmer finally looked down into the well and was amazed at what he saw... with each shovelful of dirt, the donkey was doing something incredible: It was shaking off the dirt and stepping on top of the dirt. Very soon everyone saw surprised how the donkey reached the mouth of the well, went over the edge and trotted out... Life is going to throw dirt at you, all kinds of dirt... the trick to getting out of the hole is to shake it off and use it to step up. Each of our problems is a step up. We can get out of the deepest holes if we don't give up... Use the land they throw you to get ahead!!! Remember the 5 rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hate. 2. Free your Mind of distractions. 3. Simplify your life. 4. Give more and expect less. 5. Love more and... shake the dirt, because in life, it’s better to be a solution and not a problem! With Love ❤️ Always Mark